BRITISH people arrested abroad must be guaranteed the same treatment they would be offered if they were detained in the UK, Monmouth MP David Davies has said.

The Conservative MP led a debate on the European Arrest Warrant in Parliament last week.

The European Arrest Warrant is valid in all 28 member states of the European Union and requires a suspect, once arrested, to be transferred to the country in which the order was issued and was introduced in 2004 with the intention of making it easier to arrest and prosecute criminals who had fled to another country.

Opening the debate, Mr Davies, who served as a special constable with the British Transport Police, but had to resign in 2015 after new guidelines were introduced stating officers should not play an active role in politics, said: "I would be the first person to acknowledge that criminals cross borders and that we need a system that enables us to bring them to justice if they flee overseas.

"The principle of the European Arrest Warrant marked a huge step forward from the days when parts of Spain were known as the Costa del Crime, with serious criminals living quite openly in the sun and avoiding justice."

But Mr Davies, who campaigned passionately for the UK to leave the EU ahead of last June's referendum, said he believed it was "imperative" all countries signed up to the scheme had the same standards of justice.

"I suggest that we cannot be confident that standards of justice in all member states meet the standards we would accept in the UK," he said.

Addressing police minister Brandon Lewis, Mr Davies singled out Greece, Romania and Bulgaria as countries where he said suspects waiting for trial were not afforded the same rights as those in the UK.

"If it transpires that under the current scheme the British government are unable to ensure that British residents who have not been found guilty of any crime cannot be guaranteed British standards of justice, I respectfully suggest to the minister that we will have a moral imperative to use Brexit to draft a new European Arrest Warrant system that will continue to allow people to be extradited if we are confident that standards of justice in the countries they are being extradited to match ours, but will recognise the importance of protecting the legal rights of British citizens and ensure that such rights are upheld at all times wherever citizens face criminal charges," he said.

Responding to the debate, Mr Lewis said he was unable to specify whether the scheme or a similar order will remain in place once the UK leaves the EU, but recognised its importance.

"When extraditing people from the UK, it is important that we ensure that we can show our citizens that those who should face justice do, but with their rights properly respected," he said.

"As the minister responsible for extradition, I am very clear that our position as a government is that the European Arrest Warrant assists the UK in meetings its commitments to strong practical co-operation with EU partners on security, law enforcement and criminal justice, but that that is not at the expense of human rights."